Sandbox Financial Partners LLC Reduces Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,037 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,532 shares during the period. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $567,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VZ. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% during the first quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 174.0% during the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,675,000 after acquiring an additional 58,283 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $60,828,000 after acquiring an additional 113,032 shares during the period. Finally, First Western Trust Bank bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $567,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. UBS Group raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.86.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $41.96. 19,771,402 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,609,096. The company has a market capitalization of $176.41 billion, a PE ratio of 15.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.40. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.34.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).